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Re: Google is the new nonfiction
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From: maggie_bo_at_comcast.net
Date: Wed, 13 Oct 2010 02:11:26 +0000 (UTC)
"Teachers thus can use our books to model process..."
Absolutely.В I think too often nonfiction books are only valued and us ed by teachers for the facts they contain.В We can useВ these book s В to study not only how facts are synthesized, but also how arguments are made, the effective use of graphics and illustrations,В and even m ore "literary" aspects such as imagery, figurative language, etc. . . . the possibilities are endless.В Covering all the facts just gets more and more impossible every year.В If that's whatВ a print nonfiction c ollection is supposed to be В about, we might as well give up the ghost . В But I really like Marc's idea of providing models, which to me is even more of an argumentВ for focusing on В buying the best, most i nteresting , well written nonfiction books I can find, as opposed to trying to "cover" everything.
В
----- Original Message -----
From: bookmarch_at_aol.com To: csteward@aclibrary.org, "maggie bo" , gholch@nyc .rr.com Cc: ccbc-net@lists.wisc.edu Sent: Tuesday, October 12, 2010 9:26:52 PM Subject: Re:
Google is the new nonfiction
" I think it’s a question of information literacy. What I frequentl y see is the child’s (and parent’s) inability to pull many facts together from a variety of sources: Internet, print and primary ."
Celeste is making a crucial point. Of course students rush to Google -- as once -- you may all recall -- they (we) rushed to the encyclopedia. Everyon e wants a quick, one stop shoping, answer that allows you toВ complete the assignment and move on. But the ability to gather that information, to В fill out those data points on whatever grid of true and false and ide ntify and define a worksheet or assignment may require is not nonfiction li teracy. Instead, nonfiction literacy is the ability to select information, В to recognize point of view, to construct an argument, to be open to c ontradiction and counter views, and to present theВ narrative you have arrived at in a compelling form. It isВ that nonfictionВ literacy - - that abilityВ to think with information and render the results on a p age -- that the new standards demand. And there the internet is at best a s upporting player. That is why I always tell students to begin with a second ary source -- figure out yourВ argument, your questi on, your approach - - then use the net to find specifics. So while students do rush to Google, and teachers tolerate that, or use databases which are themselves construct ed out of web snippets, they will soon have before them a different, and fa r more important challenge. I see our nonfiction books as modeling ways to "pull many facts together." as Celeste says. We cannot cover every fact, bu t we can show how to do it. Teachers thus can use our books to model proces s, even as their students use Google to hunt for bits and bytes of informat ion.
Marc Aronson
" I think it’s a question of information literacy. What I frequentl y see is the child’s (and parent’s) inability to pull many facts together from a variety of sources: Internet, print and primary ."
Celeste is making a crucial point. Of course students rush to Google -- as once -- you may all recall -- they (we) rushed to the encyclopedia. Everyon e wants a quick, one stop shoping, answer that allows you toВ complete the assignment and move on. But the ability to gather that information, to В fill out those data points on whatever grid of true and false and ide ntify and define a worksheet or assignment may require is not nonfiction li teracy. Instead, nonfiction literacy is the ability to select information, В to recognize point of view, to construct an argument, to be open to c ontradiction and counter views, and to present theВ narrative you have arrived at in a compelling form. It isВ that nonfictionВ literacy - - that abilityВ to think with information and render the results on a p age -- that the new standards demand. And there the internet is at best a s upporting player. That is why I always tell students to begin with a second ary source -- figure out yourВ argument, your questi on, your approach - - then use the net to find specifics. So while students do rush to Google, and teachers tolerate that, or use databases which are themselves construct ed out of web snippets, they will soon have before them a different, and fa r more important challenge. I see our nonfiction books as modeling ways to "pull many facts together." as Celeste says. We cannot cover every fact, bu t we can show how to do it. Teachers thus can use our books to model proces s, even as their students use Google to hunt for bits and bytes of informat ion.
Marc Aronson
Received on Wed 13 Oct 2010 02:11:26 AM CDT
Date: Wed, 13 Oct 2010 02:11:26 +0000 (UTC)
"Teachers thus can use our books to model process..."
Absolutely.В I think too often nonfiction books are only valued and us ed by teachers for the facts they contain.В We can useВ these book s В to study not only how facts are synthesized, but also how arguments are made, the effective use of graphics and illustrations,В and even m ore "literary" aspects such as imagery, figurative language, etc. . . . the possibilities are endless.В Covering all the facts just gets more and more impossible every year.В If that's whatВ a print nonfiction c ollection is supposed to be В about, we might as well give up the ghost . В But I really like Marc's idea of providing models, which to me is even more of an argumentВ for focusing on В buying the best, most i nteresting , well written nonfiction books I can find, as opposed to trying to "cover" everything.
В
----- Original Message -----
From: bookmarch_at_aol.com To: csteward@aclibrary.org, "maggie bo" , gholch@nyc .rr.com Cc: ccbc-net@lists.wisc.edu Sent: Tuesday, October 12, 2010 9:26:52 PM Subject: Re:
Google is the new nonfiction
" I think it’s a question of information literacy. What I frequentl y see is the child’s (and parent’s) inability to pull many facts together from a variety of sources: Internet, print and primary ."
Celeste is making a crucial point. Of course students rush to Google -- as once -- you may all recall -- they (we) rushed to the encyclopedia. Everyon e wants a quick, one stop shoping, answer that allows you toВ complete the assignment and move on. But the ability to gather that information, to В fill out those data points on whatever grid of true and false and ide ntify and define a worksheet or assignment may require is not nonfiction li teracy. Instead, nonfiction literacy is the ability to select information, В to recognize point of view, to construct an argument, to be open to c ontradiction and counter views, and to present theВ narrative you have arrived at in a compelling form. It isВ that nonfictionВ literacy - - that abilityВ to think with information and render the results on a p age -- that the new standards demand. And there the internet is at best a s upporting player. That is why I always tell students to begin with a second ary source -- figure out yourВ argument, your questi on, your approach - - then use the net to find specifics. So while students do rush to Google, and teachers tolerate that, or use databases which are themselves construct ed out of web snippets, they will soon have before them a different, and fa r more important challenge. I see our nonfiction books as modeling ways to "pull many facts together." as Celeste says. We cannot cover every fact, bu t we can show how to do it. Teachers thus can use our books to model proces s, even as their students use Google to hunt for bits and bytes of informat ion.
Marc Aronson
" I think it’s a question of information literacy. What I frequentl y see is the child’s (and parent’s) inability to pull many facts together from a variety of sources: Internet, print and primary ."
Celeste is making a crucial point. Of course students rush to Google -- as once -- you may all recall -- they (we) rushed to the encyclopedia. Everyon e wants a quick, one stop shoping, answer that allows you toВ complete the assignment and move on. But the ability to gather that information, to В fill out those data points on whatever grid of true and false and ide ntify and define a worksheet or assignment may require is not nonfiction li teracy. Instead, nonfiction literacy is the ability to select information, В to recognize point of view, to construct an argument, to be open to c ontradiction and counter views, and to present theВ narrative you have arrived at in a compelling form. It isВ that nonfictionВ literacy - - that abilityВ to think with information and render the results on a p age -- that the new standards demand. And there the internet is at best a s upporting player. That is why I always tell students to begin with a second ary source -- figure out yourВ argument, your questi on, your approach - - then use the net to find specifics. So while students do rush to Google, and teachers tolerate that, or use databases which are themselves construct ed out of web snippets, they will soon have before them a different, and fa r more important challenge. I see our nonfiction books as modeling ways to "pull many facts together." as Celeste says. We cannot cover every fact, bu t we can show how to do it. Teachers thus can use our books to model proces s, even as their students use Google to hunt for bits and bytes of informat ion.
Marc Aronson
Received on Wed 13 Oct 2010 02:11:26 AM CDT
